Heineken Cup - General Discussion Thread

GerM

ANXIOUS wrote: »

Did anyone else think the north hampton yellow was very harsh?

Only turned on. What happened?

Think North should have tried to get that ball away. Guaranteed try if the pass stuck.

EDIT: That penalty from Hartley was absolutely braindead. Looks like Saints aren't bothered. Laughable stuff from Hartley.

justsomebloke

GerM wrote: »

Only turned on. What happened?

After the ref blew his whistle and play stopped Northampton player purposely threw the ball into the face of a Scarlett's player

Flincher

ANXIOUS wrote: »

Did anyone else think the north hampton yellow was very harsh?

Rolland seems a bit stroppy today. He had a few words with Martin Roberts over backchat as well.

It was a bit on the harsh side alright, but I suppose it is the kind of thing that could cause a game to get niggly with a lot of off the ball stuff, so he was probably right to stamp it out.

He's after having words with Clarke as well.

GerM, May was called back for a forward pass, the Scarlets 9 went to take the ball off him, so May threw it (softly enough) in his face

KevIRL

Clermont 1 try up

lologram

Seems like Clermont are 19-0 up away to Aironi... doesn't look like Ulster are going to get any favours from their Pro12 brethren.

GerM

How was that a Scarlets scrum? Did I miss something? Saints going forward clearly, ball not coming back.

.ak

ANXIOUS wrote: »

Did anyone else think the north hampton yellow was very harsh?

I think it was harsh in terms of what happened but I can see why rolland did it - best to give a yellow early in a game to iron it out

KevIRL

Try BP in the bag for Clermont

thomond2006

Nice cross kick from Priestland, Scarlets try.

ANXIOUS

.ak wrote: »

I think it was harsh in terms of what happened but I can see why rolland did it - best to give a yellow early in a game to iron it out

Possibly, Rolland seems like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I still think North Hampton will win.

shuffol

Hartley is such an idiotic player

.ak

Lovely try. Very ROG esque

I think rolland should call the rucks.. lots of hands going in there because the players aren't sure if its a ruck or not

ongarite

Priestland playing well so far.
Luckily he completely bottled it in the 2 Munster games.

ongarite

Foolish pass from North. Virtually certain try if he had waited for support.

GerM

Caldwell bags himself a try in Montpellier who are on course currently for yet another draw at home!

irishbucsfan

I just cannot understand how Rolland has gone from being the best ref in the world to regularly having performances like these. To call him inconsistent at the breakdown would be a massive understatement.

GerM

Caldwell with his second try! He's having some season for Barf.

KevIRL

7 1st half tries for Clermont lol. 0-47 at HT

thomond2006

KevIRL wrote: »

7 1st half tries for Clermont lol. 0-47 at HT

Good lord...

bleg

Tongauaiaha in for a try.

ongarite

Try?? Did he drop it or just skip away when he was grounding it?

TMO gives it.

irishbucsfan

Scarlets absolutely destroyed the Northampton scrum before that try, no way it should have been allowed come out. They can feel very hard done by.

GerM

Definite try. Not good from a red perspective as Saints are building momentum and will also be in the driving seat for the Amlin spot.

To be honest though, this is a poor game of rugby. The overall execution is mediocre at its best. Ashton just hacking it into touch there. What on earth...

shuffol

Come on Northampton!!

irishbucsfan

Pretty much stopped watching. Rolland is appalling.

GerM

Comedy of errors. If one side could keep the ball and not infringe they'd win this. They're just handing each other points.

A-Train

Rolland really is having a terrible match today, rucks a mess and should have binned a few people at this stage bar the 1!

GerM

Nothing on display to make me change my opinion that Scarlets are vastly overrated on the back of an entirely gift wrapped win in Northampton. Their much vaunted back line is actually quite toothless and completely lacks guile in midfield. 10 tries in 5 games with 4 of those on a plate in the first Saints game says it all. They would struggle to break wind effectively, let alone the gain line.

GerM

Montpellier win with a converted try in injury time! Very almost their 3rd draw of the campaign. Probably good news for Glasgow/Leinster overall as Montpellier are unlikely to get anything in Dublin. A BP in either of their last two games might be enough for Glasgow now to get the Amlin spot.

irishbucsfan

Scarlets back line is excellent. Davies and WIlliams are both doing very well, but given that the forwards are being manhandled in the tight it means that backs end up out of posiiton. It's impossible to judge a back line behind a pack like that. That Scarlets back line is as good as any Irish one except for at 9.

czech

great weekend of rugby so i will be glue to the tv

.ak

GerM wrote: »

Nothing on display to make me change my opinion that Scarlets are vastly overrated on the back of an entirely gift wrapped win in Northampton. Their much vaunted back line is actually quite toothless and completely lacks guile in midfield. 10 tries in 5 games with 4 of those on a plate in the first Saints game says it all. They would struggle to break wind effectively, let alone the gain line.

Haha brilliant. Best analogy I've heard all day.

GerM

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Scarlets back line is excellent. Davies and WIlliams are both doing very well, but given that the forwards are being manhandled in the tight it means that backs end up out of posiiton. It's impossible to judge a back line behind a pack like that. That Scarlets back line is as good as any Irish one except for at 9.

Will agree to disagree. Priestland can be excellent but is inconsistent. Davies is very good but lacks creativity. Williams is solid. North is very good but doesn't see enough ball. Lamont is mediocre. Liam Williams is a Pro12 player at best. Iongi is average enough. Their midfield lacks creativity.

Only 4 sides in the Pro12 have scored fewer tries and that's against packs that are heavily impacted by international call ups and restrictions, unlike the Scarlets pack.

ongarite

Shocking play from both sides.
One minute earlier Northampton should have scored and now Scarlets blow a massive overlap.

corny

That was shocking from the Scarlets SH.

CiaranMT

Jesus Scarlets are piss-poor.

GerM

Jesus Christ. It's a cripple fight. Catch ball, draw man, pass. Both sides should have scored there. Davies deserves a slap for his dithering but savage defence from Saints. Maybe they care after all.

danthefan

.ak wrote: »

GerM wrote: »

Nothing on display to make me change my opinion that Scarlets are vastly overrated on the back of an entirely gift wrapped win in Northampton. Their much vaunted back line is actually quite toothless and completely lacks guile in midfield. 10 tries in 5 games with 4 of those on a plate in the first Saints game says it all. They would struggle to break wind effectively, let alone the gain line.

Haha brilliant. Best analogy I've heard all day.

Very witty alright but Davies is brilliant at getting over the gainline.

A-Train

The Scarlett's couldn't finish their dinner at the moment! The ball is going from one side of the pitch to the other! Saints not a whole lot better!

GerM

You need to close out a crucial game in the HEC....enter Ryan Lamb. Northampton wonder why they're not in contention for the group?

shuffol

Yessss, Scarlets down, Blues to go

A-Train

Break away try Northhampton, terrible Scarlett's play!

.ak

Poor stuff from scarlets really.

ongarite

GAME SET MATCH..

Pushing the ball from side to side eventually leads to an interception.

irishbucsfan

I don't know who's worse, the Scarlets replacement 9 (crap), the Scarlets pack (crap), Northampton in possession (crap) or Alain Rolland (crap). Really terrible advert for the competition all round.

GerM

Malzieu and Sivivatu get their hat-tricks for Clermont. 82-0. Byrne and Lapandry with a brace each. Absolute mauling.

See ya later, Scarlets. Foden does what Trimble tried. Denying them the BP is a big deal in the push for the Amlin. Good result for Ulster too.

ongarite

This result will give Northampton a boost for their match with Munster next week.

durkadurka

shuffol wrote: »

Yessss, Scarlets down, Blues to go

This is good for ulster?

cgpg5

cgpg5 wrote: »

While I can't see Aironi winning they can certainly stop Clermont getting the bonus. It is unlikely but Clermont have an horrendous away record in Europe and all the pressure is on them. Aironi are going out with nothing to lose and are on the back of a very impressive thumping of Connacht.

Mind you Clermont could just as easily run out 8 tries but I just hope that Aironi can frustrate them enough and give them a good game and play with the in-your-face attitude like they deployed against Connacht.

Well I've been left slightly red-faced after this whole comment, but have outlined my key point

Still though, Scarlets one less team to worry about hopefully and Ulster have every right to still feel that they can get something at Clermont, they are well capable

GerM

danthefan wrote: »

Very witty alright but Davies is brilliant at getting over the gainline.

You're totally right and my comment was a bit tongue in cheek but I do think as a unit they're very overrated. Davies is very good but I think he's a little one dimensional. Picks decent lines and is very powerful but someone like George North will always need to come infield to be most potent as those inside him simply aren't able to provide enough clean ball to him. That break away from inside their own 22 could have resulted in a try if those inside him had drawn the defence a bit better. The plan seemed to be get the ball to North as quick as possible.